Samsung Patent Hints at New TouchWiz and New Music App Features

When patent news doesn’t involve a court battle with another company, it usually means it’s a leak of sorts. This is patent news, and thankfully, it’s going to provide a leak instead of a court battle. Coming from the Korean Intellectual Property Rights Information Service, or KIPRIS for short, a patent that may show into the future of Samsung’s TouchWiz UI.

It has been rumored for sometime now, that Samsung is planning on a big redesign of their TouchWiz UI, and most would say it is needed. It was also rumored that the new UI will debut with the Samsung 2014 flagship device, the Samsung Galaxy S5.

The images that have been connected to the news, shows that Samsung may be focusing on making it easier to control their devices with one hand. With a quarter circle in the corner, or what is being called “Hot Circles,” that allows for quick access to calls, apps, notifications, and time. Surely there will be many more options in that area, allowing for customization and most used by the user options.

The idea of one-handed use becomes more of a problem than a plus with the size of smartphones going up. Unless, you have long fingers and big hands, than reaching across the full length of the screen while using one hand, shouldn’t be a problem for you. On the other hand, see that? More and more users are finding that the screen size has been a reason to stick with old devices, or wait for the mini versions that have become so popular to create.

The other image shows an addition to an app, more specifically, the music app. It would seem Samsung wants to make your music listening experience more social. This will most likely be an option to turn on or off, and if not, than that may be unfortunate. The idea the image gives, is that if a friend has rated the song you are listening to, you will see their ranking, or if someone has listened or is listening to the same song. Also make comments on a song and share those comments with friends. Though, it is unlikely that you will be able to share songs between users, unless you know of another way to do that.

These may not be the features we were hoping for, but at least it shows some proof behind the idea that Samsung is working on improving TouchWiz. That’s a start. What do you want to see included in the new version of TouchWiz? What do you want to see taken away from the old TouchWiz?